Bigfoot symposium a big deal

By John Driscoll

Willow Creek — In September, the greatest minds in Bigfoot science will converge upon the little town of Willow Creek, a town that appears destined to forever be known as the sasquatch capital of the world.

The keynote speaker is primate expert Jane Goodall, whose renowned work with chimpanzees has been documented in National Geographic, on film and in many other places. Scientists from Moscow's State Darwin Museum and American zoologists and criminologists will lay out a case for Bigfoot.

It might not be easy. Recent media reports that the original Bigfoot tracks — found not far from here — were hoaxed have sent shock waves through the Bigfoot-believing community. The widely circulated stories have seriously set back the efforts to track down the elusive creature, believers say.

The three-day symposium could help change that, said longtime Bigfoot aficionado and author John Green.

"I hope it will wake some of you people up," Green said in a phone interview from his home in British Columbia. "Everybody is just so dang sure that it ain't so. ... These are people you should listen to."

Green was livid with the recent Bigfoot hoax stories. The family of Humboldt County contractor Ray Wallace, after his death last year, claimed Wallace pulled off the 1958 prank in Bluff Creek that launched the term Bigfoot and brought an ancient legend to life.

Green called it "nonsense." He said reporters around the country didn't do an ounce of homework on the matter. The fallout is still doing damage, he said.

Green hopes the symposium will spark interest in the possible discovery of a new large primate, and stir up funding woefully lacking in the search.

For some, the association of Willow Creek with Bigfoot is unfortunate. Nita Rowley of the Willow Creek Chamber of Commerce wishes folks would see the community for what it really offers — rafting, fishing, swimming — rather than for an animal she sees as make- believe. Wallace was suspected of the prank all along, she said.

"Willow Creek is a very nice little area without the Bigfoot," Rowley said. "I don't like Willow Creek getting fame on a trumped-up story."

But Rowley admits that people who come to Willow Creek for the symposium will have a net positive effect for merchants and businesses.

Other speakers include Jeffrey Meldrum from Idaho State University, who will talk about bipedal evolution. Texas crime scene investigator Jimmy Chilcutt will explain how he found "dermal ridge" evidence in Bigfoot casts.

The symposium costs $125 a pop, but there is an opportunity to make some money, too. Green said there is a standing offer of $100,000 for anyone who can duplicate the original Bluff Creek Bigfoot prints. No, the money's not in a verifiable bank account. Green said he's promising the cash.

"The money would be tied up forever because it can't be done," Green said.

The symposium runs Sept. 12-14. A full agenda can be found at www.bigfootsymposium.com Anyone interested in attending should call (530) 629-2653 or the Humboldt County Convention and Visitors Bureau at (707) 443-5097.

From: Eureka Times-Standard, 4 May 2003.